Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, commenting Dallas hair salon owner Shelley Luther's release from jail, said he hopes her case means "nobody has to be in prison again for going out and trying to work."
"I think it's the first time in American history that somebody has been put in jail for cutting hair voluntarily," Paxton said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
He explained that it was the city, not the state that charged Luther for keeping her salon open despite state mandates closing business, and a judge for holding her in contempt "because she wouldn't give the right apology to him. It became very personal."
On Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott, reacting to Luther's case, said from now on, Texans will not be jailed for working during shutdowns. His order was issued retroactively, allowing Luther to be released from jail, and Paxton said he applauds that as the "right move."
"You can be fined, which I think is more appropriate than prison time," said Paxton. "In Dallas County, where they did this, they released almost 1,000 convicted criminals and they have sought to release even more who have done some really horrendous crime, and for some reason, they are okay putting somebody in jail for doing their job with haircuts."
Meanwhile, as Texas moves toward opening, Paxton said more coronavirus testing is needed, as only a small percentage of the state's population has been tested.
"The good thing about the testing we have done it's shown that the numbers have come down as the percentage of people that actually have it that are tested, even though we have had more people tested," said Paxton.
But if the virus spikes again, the governor can change his orders and close down certain counties, said Paxton.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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